Missile Road Gate to Reopen Aug. 20

  • Published
  • By George Woodward
  • 82 TRW/PA
SHEPPARD AFB, Texas --  

The Missile Road Gate will open to traffic Aug. 20 as the $2.74 million project to repave the road is completed.

Gate hours will be 5:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., seven days a week, through Sept. 20, after which it will remain open until 9:30 p.m. The Clinic Gate will be closed beginning Aug. 20.

The 82nd Security Forces Squadron will move the Pass and ID and Visitor Control Center offices back to Missile Road, Bldg. 1405, from Aug. 17-19 and will open for normal business Aug. 22. One- to three-day passes will be available at the Sheppard Access Road Gate Vehicle Control Center during that period.

Hours for the Missile Road Visitor Control Center will be 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the Contractor Pass and ID office open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Visitors may use the Visitor Control Center at the Sheppard Access Road Gate outside those hours -- 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday and on holidays and weekends.

The phone number for the Missile Road Pass and ID Office is 676-7441; the Sheppard Access Road Gate number is 676-3965.

The gate project, of course, has been a long one. According to Base Civil Engineer Mark McBurnett, there are three primary reasons the project took as long as it did.

First, there were 49 days of weather delays. And additional 56 days of delay resulted from “phasing” the project -- in other words, doing it in pieces rather than all at once. Phasing allowed the gate to remain open for the screening commercial truck traffic--an important security issue--and also avoided the need to completely close the intersection at Missile Road and Bridwell/Avenue D & E at any point.

The largest delay, however, resulted from what workers found when they pulled up the original road -- underground infrastructure that had to be lowered before the new road bed could be laid. This resulted in a 123-day delay to lower gas lines, sewers and other critical infrastructure.

“It was long and sometimes frustrating for all of us,” McBurnett said, “but we’re glad to get the gate back open in time for two of our biggest events -- Hotter ‘n Hell 100 and of course, the Open House and Air Show.”